I couldn't imagine what this crazy huge box was that I found sticking out of my mailbox yesterday. It turned out that is was not a trick, but a wonderful, delightful treat!

It was a gift from friend Mimi...she completely surprised me with this adorable signed and dated poster from her friend Salley Mavor. I have adored Salley work for years and years and Mimi knows this and also knew how much this gift would mean to me. Salley's work is truly special, just look at the details of her work found on this piece.

My friends (who are from India) called to say they were cleaning out their closets and wondered if I would maybe be interested in some of the pieces to use for the fabric...some? Who me? You mean all that starched linen, beautiful soft cotton, super silkiest of all silks?

cloth with all that gorgeous trim

intricate hand stitching

dazzling beadwok

and lovely details in even the plainest of house dresses?

Why yes, thank you. I'd be happy to take it ALL off your hands. So they brought over two plastic garbage bags full. I'm having so much fun and have only been through about one quarter of what they dropped off. I'm sure I'll be playing with this all weekend.

So, anyone watching the Oscars this weekend? This will probably be my third year in a row that I have not yet seen one nominated film. Maybe I'll entertain myself with Oscar Bingo by How About Orange. And to get in the spirit of things, I may just have to whip up a batch of Oscar cookies.

While in the middle of writing this post, Julen woke up and the mailman came. Look what Amy sent me.

How adorable! And sweet! I can't even say how much I love this little guy, because he just truly brightened my day. Thanks Amy!

This beautiful video was sent by one of my mom's at the preschool and is a must see for any mother. It's lovely to watch and brings me to tears everytime I see it.

And since I can't figure out how to embed it, I'll just leave you with the link.

I've been completely spoiled rotten lately. So much love and generosity has come my way and boy do I feel like one lucky woman. I celebrated my birthday last week and although I was quiet about it here, I received many email wishes thanks to my dear friend Jen who sent so many friends my way when she wrote such a sweet message to me in this post. And to accompany such a lovely wish on that day, this sweet gift arrived in my mailbox from her.

"Spend some time with me." I love that. And boy Jen, I sure wish I could right now.

My sister is really good at spoiling me. She's been doing it my whole life. I'll never forget my eighth birthday when she took me out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Fuji-ya. It was such a huge day for me. She must have had her driver's license already, but for some reason we took the bus to the restaurant downtown. I felt so special. And so grown up. And I will never forget such a unique treat. (Don't worry Sistah, I'll leave out the part about how it was snowing buckets out when we left the restaurant and I was completely unaware you hitched us a ride home from strangers. Don't worry, you said, they're just some nice people from church...get in the car. I felt like a princess not having to go home in the bus.) This year was no exception. She showered me with gifts.

Another gift I just have to show off since Shari doesn't have a blog is this beautiful purse.

Silk and wool. Lined with cashmere and velvet. I don't know whether to put my phone and keys in the bag or just use it to keep my hands warm.

And speaking of silk and velvet, I treated myself to one of Jackie's beautiful embroidered cuffs.

It actually arrived ON my birthday...I love, love, love her work. Check out her shop here.

And yesterday when I saw Jen, I could hardly believe my eyes when I unwrapped this beautiful gem from her.

Jen does such incredible work and this is a piece I will treasure forever. And how appropriate given I am a pisces. (Her photo is so much better.)

Finally...lucky, lucky me. I got to have a "bring-a-blogger-friend-to-work-day" on Tuesday. Dear, sweet Sarah was in town again. She willingly wanted to join me at my school. Actually, it was perfect. We had plently of time to catch up while the children played and I enjoyed a little break as she did (what she does so well) story hour.

What an energy boost she is. She lifted my spirits and brought smiles for all the children. Her humor and laughter is completely infectious. I loved sharing this part of my life with her and now my school holds the memory of her visit. What a special day for us all. Check out the beautiful photos she took of my boys. She also came bearing gifts. Some delicious smelling candles came inside one gorgeous bag that she made.

I almost cried. All the pretty fabrics, most of them vintage. And her sewing is quite enviable. One day I keep telling myself. One day I will learn how to run that sewing machine of mine.

If you're wondering what might make this little boy dance and spin and jump around in pure blissful joy...just take a listen here. Lucky Peanut was gifted a Justin Roberts CD from our dear friend Erik last week and it's been on constant replay ever since. To quote Peanut..."all the songs are my favorite".

Thanks Tio Ewik! And we love the photos.

More reasons to jump for joy, all our hard work on the preschool house has paid off. I feel like all I've done this month is clean and paint and stain and prepare for opening our doors for the children this fall. Last night we had our first parent meeting and the school was ready for showing. I'll share photos at a later date. Thank you everyone who has emailed and called me about the school. We are very excited about how everything turned out. Hopefully I'll get a chance to catch up with all of you.

In baby news, little Julen has been a teething dribble.

His two bottom choppers both popped out this week. Good-bye to Mr. Gums.

I should know. I've recently been the lucky recipient of two. The first is from djbebe. A funky fun hand crocheted green brooch and some yummy fabric samples to play with.

She also sent some adorable gift tags, trimmed in velvet.

The second give-away comes from the very talented Josie. I could "oooh and ahhh" over her supersewingskills all day long. She makes such unbelievably enviable quilts. Anyway...I won her blog give-away way last May. This darling bag,

filled to the brim with lovely trims and patches and postcards and buttons and this huge variety of beautiful fabric pieces.

What fun I'm going to have with all these colorful choices.

And now on to my vintage fabric giveaway. I picked a name Friday as promised, just didn't get around to blogging about it until now. The fabric goes to Regina. Thanks to all of you who stopped by to comment. It was a fun welcome back after such a respite. I sincerely wish I had an entire bolt so I could send everyone a piece of it.

And just for fun...look what was left behind in the house we bought for the preschool.

Anyone have a need for a vintage wall-mount stereo system? This and the wood paneled wall you can see are just a hint of the amount of work we have in front of us. Wish us luck. I think we're going to need it!

She always makes it so hard for me to open the beautifully wrapped gifts. I just want to admire them for as long as I can. But this is her trademark and her attention to detail is why her Etsy shop is such a huge success. Order something from her and it comes wrapped as if your best friend sent it.

Anyway...

Among all the wonderful treats she sent was this very personal collage she created just for me.

Every detail has special meaning and I'm so touched by her thoughtfulness and creativity in making this for me. Thank you Jen. I will treasure it always.

...as sent to me by my dear friend Jen. Nobody has ever spoiled me before, the way she does. What a fun and exciting beginning to Christmas. Every day a beautifully wrapped package arriving in my mailbox. A sweet present with a quick note. Just knowing she is thinking of me is enough of a gift itself. Lucky, lucky me.

I'm back to work which means I've been flying around too much. Chicago, Charlotte, Hartford, and right now I'm in Florida. I start to feel disconnected and overwhelmed, trying to keep the happy balance of my life. I am craving my home, my family and am feeling such a strong sense of wanting to nest, create, bond once again with my friends.

On to happier things...

What joy!! A beautiful package arrived in the mail sometime while I was away. Eireann so thoughtfully remembered (from over a year ago) how torn I was between the bag seen at the bottom of this post, and this one...

...so she sent it to me as a gift. I do love that orange. Thank you Eireann. It will go everywhere with me this fall.

When I saw this dishtowel on Tabitha's site I just fell in love. So I offered to swap her for it and she generously agreed. I also got one of her beautiful cards. Thanks Tabitha!! I just have a thing for the partridge in a pear tree.

I was also inspired by Hillary's post yesterday to photograph some of my thrifted calendar dishtowels...see them here. I love how a date on the calendar may be circled. It makes me wonder what the special occasion was. And my all time favorite one here.

1. Five minutes to yourself: how would you spend them, ideally? I would take a break with a game of sudoku.2. Five bucks to spend right now: how would you spend it? on a double latte.3. Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn't thought of already? the telephone (hate unsolicited calls), my (vintage)washer/dryer, my shoebox full of pens from hotels (I think they multiply on their own) and an IKEA dresser that has drawers that don't close all the way. 4. Five items you absolutely, positively could never part with in your house? my hand made furniture constructed from reclaimed wood, the glass knobs on all the doors, photographs, artwork and the bathroom floor tile. 5. Five words you love? peace, trust, devotion, love and terciopelo (which means velvet in Spanish...it took me four years to pronounce it correctly, and I just love to say it out loud).